MasterChef cooks up a storm with Australian viewers

Wednesday 22 July 2009 08.23 EDT
First published on Wednesday 22 July 2009 08.23 EDT

Who would have thought it? The biggest television phenomenon to hit Australia in decades is ... MasterChef! The first series of the cooking contest has just finished on Channel Ten with an astonishing 3.7 million Australians tuning in to the final. To put that in perspective, that figure makes it the most popular programme barring sporting events since the current electronic ratings measurement system began. The final of MasterChef attracted a bigger audience than any episode of Australian Idol, Australia's Got Talent or Big Brother, which was axed last year due to falling ratings - and which MasterChef was drafted in to replace. No one was expecting great things, but the show became an all-consuming point of fascination with Australian viewers. Over the course of the programme, 11.4 million different people tuned in to the programme, out of a population of 21.7 million. It certainly seems a bit zippier than the BBC version.